PayPal withdrew our money, but we don't have an account

PayPal has withdrawn £132.50 from my wife's Alliance & Leicester bank account. She doesn't have a PayPal account. We are having problems convincing them both that there is a problem. Alliance & Leicester said she had to sort this out with PayPal but PayPal wanted confirmation of the transaction from A&L. A&L took two attempts to write a letter showing the correct amount. She sent this on to PayPal which said it could not find any trace of her. This is not surprising as she doesn't have a PayPal account.BH, Longfield, Kent

Alliance & Leicester misunderstood her initial inquiry and assumed she was disputing a transaction she had made. It refunded £132.50 to her account while it investigated her real problem.

PayPal also investigated and accepts that your wife had not authorised the payment. This is unlikely to be fraud but no one can see where the error occurred. PayPal refunded the payment to her bank account, at which point A&L took back the refund it had made. A few days later the money again disappeared. A&L has put it back again as a goodwill gesture and promises it will stay there.

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